Latest / Foul Territory / Inside MLB player group texts + Padres OF Ramón Laureano joins FT

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Inside MLB player group texts + Padres OF Ramón Laureano joins FT · Foul Territory

0:05
Speaker 1: Fun article in The Athletic by Andy McCullough on how
0:08
Speaker 1: teams and players communicate all day long. It's called group chats,
0:13
Speaker 1: Slack channels, and buzzing iPhones. Why MLB players now communicate
0:18
Speaker 1: just like us? And in there, Andy talks to a
0:21
Speaker 1: number of players about how they communicate and how guys
0:25
Speaker 1: get added to and booted off of group chats. How
0:28
Speaker 1: there are a number of subsets, like text groups that
0:31
Speaker 1: involve just infielders, or a text group just about base running.
0:35
Speaker 1: Vinnie pas Quintino was listing all of the different groups
0:38
Speaker 1: that he was a part of and listed some of
0:39
Speaker 1: those text chains. So just a lot of information that
0:42
Speaker 1: I thought was really interesting. I actually want to start here, KP,
0:45
Speaker 1: because you recently did spend some time with the Rangers.
0:48
Speaker 1: They were the one team in this article as the
0:50
Speaker 1: outlier that actually used slack that's much more of a
0:54
Speaker 1: work messaging type of platform, and some of the other
0:57
Speaker 1: players of shit on it from other teams that are like,
1:00
Speaker 1: no way would we use that. I mean, we use
1:02
Speaker 1: a company wise, So it's nothing against the company. It's
1:04
Speaker 1: just that you know, players are like not, we just
1:06
Speaker 1: want to text and be nice and casual. So did
1:09
Speaker 1: you have that when you were there or is that
1:10
Speaker 1: even newer?
1:12
Speaker 2: Yeah, we used Slack when we were there. It's an
1:15
Speaker 2: added layer of challenge when you're just trying to quickly communicate.
1:18
Speaker 2: But you know, there's other teams I was on that
1:21
Speaker 2: used things like TeamWorks too, but that would be more
1:23
Speaker 2: like formal stuff like travel itinerary if you wanted to
1:27
Speaker 2: get a hold of you know, travel secretary and stuff
1:30
Speaker 2: like that.
1:30
Speaker 3: But I'm old fashioned, man.
1:32
Speaker 2: I think just a good old group text message, whether
1:35
Speaker 2: it's with your hitting group, you know, your outfield group,
1:38
Speaker 2: or whatever sort of group you're part of.
1:40
Speaker 3: Within a team.
1:40
Speaker 2: And you know, even teams you know, just have a
1:43
Speaker 2: you know, twenty six man and obviously the guys that
1:46
Speaker 2: come up and down are in a text threat. It
1:47
Speaker 2: just it makes life a little bit easier. But when
1:49
Speaker 2: you're constantly having to go on a you know, kind
1:52
Speaker 2: of a work app like Slack, guys are less likely
1:55
Speaker 2: to respond to those things when you're trying to coordinate
1:58
Speaker 2: a team dinner or things that.
2:01
Speaker 4: I mean, just put it on a group thread like
2:03
Speaker 4: I don't. I don't get it, Like as much as
2:06
Speaker 4: I love group chats this much, and I hated all
2:11
Speaker 4: the TeamWorks, and like, if I have another app where
2:14
Speaker 4: I have to communicate because now I coach, well, I
2:17
Speaker 4: coach and my daughter plays on two different softball teams
2:21
Speaker 4: school and her travel team, and so I'm getting messages
2:26
Speaker 4: that I have to send out on Game Changer, which
2:30
Speaker 4: is great, it's a great messaging app, but it's another
2:33
Speaker 4: app to send messages. So for me, I love group
2:38
Speaker 4: chats and the fact that, like you get kicked out
2:41
Speaker 4: of them right away, I didn't experience that. I'll keep
2:46
Speaker 4: a group chat. We have a we have a POS
2:50
Speaker 4: group chat because our manager in twenty eighteen in Scranton
2:56
Speaker 4: called all of us pos's and so the group thread
3:02
Speaker 4: is now we're working on eight years old, and we
3:05
Speaker 4: still we still throw some zingers in there, Like that's
3:09
Speaker 4: that's the fun part. Like I always hear guys that
3:12
Speaker 4: when they retire, they're like, oh, man, you know, I
3:14
Speaker 4: miss being in the clubhouse with the guys.
3:17
Speaker 3: I don't.
3:18
Speaker 4: I'll just fire out a I'll just fire out a
3:20
Speaker 4: tweet into that, or fire out a text message into
3:22
Speaker 4: one of those group threads. And I'm still part of
3:24
Speaker 4: Like I would love to still be a part of
3:26
Speaker 4: the twenty sixteen Astros Hitting Group Thread Hitters Group group thread.
3:32
Speaker 4: Like I'd love to shoot a shoot a text message
3:35
Speaker 4: to Kyle Tucker's brother Cole Tucker. I'd love to shoot
3:40
Speaker 4: a text message to Duffy to Carlos Korea like, like,
3:45
Speaker 4: I love doing that kind of stuff. It's a way
3:46
Speaker 4: that you keep connection with guys that you played with,
3:49
Speaker 4: whether it's a week or you played with him for
3:52
Speaker 4: four years.
3:54
Speaker 3: Yeah, I find that.
3:56
Speaker 2: Sorry, I find that if you were in a group
3:59
Speaker 2: message that's a little bit more team affiliated, like a
4:01
Speaker 2: hitting group, you tend to get kicked out a little
4:04
Speaker 2: bit more because you do have some police officers within,
4:07
Speaker 2: like your hitting department, the coaches, the analytics people, they
4:10
Speaker 2: will kick you out. But when it comes to just
4:13
Speaker 2: you know, group text messages with you know, your your
4:17
Speaker 2: teammates from certain teams.
4:18
Speaker 3: That I played on. You know, I'm still in a
4:20
Speaker 3: lot of these, and I.
4:21
Speaker 2: Feel like if you're not very active in them at
4:24
Speaker 2: the very beginning, they forget that you're in them. And
4:26
Speaker 2: then years later you kind of throw a zinger in there,
4:29
Speaker 2: you know, and it kind of resparks maybe a fun
4:31
Speaker 2: time in your life. And obviously with what I'm doing
4:35
Speaker 2: outside of FT. When I'm trying to get you know,
4:38
Speaker 2: either guests on Bluebird Territory or our other podcasts, I
4:42
Speaker 2: go through some of those old you know, like a
4:44
Speaker 2: Dodgers group message or a Braves group message.
4:47
Speaker 3: And that's how I find a lot of people's phone numbers.
4:49
Speaker 2: And to your point, Kratz, I got a quick introduction
4:52
Speaker 2: of to real life. You know, here in Texas they
4:55
Speaker 2: use sports you a lot. And when I was the
4:57
Speaker 2: head coach of my football team, I was like, what
5:00
Speaker 2: am I doing? Why am I taking this extra layer
5:03
Speaker 2: of challenge for myself when I'm trying to set out
5:06
Speaker 2: practice schedules and communicating with teams and.
5:09
Speaker 3: Change of schedules.
5:11
Speaker 2: So I just got everyone's phone number and I said,
5:12
Speaker 2: you guys cool with me setting up a group text message.
5:15
Speaker 2: And it's just been so much easier. There's a purpose
5:17
Speaker 2: for those apps because you can put the schedule on
5:20
Speaker 2: and everyone gets them. But when it comes to like
5:22
Speaker 2: instinct communication, I still think people would just prefer a
5:25
Speaker 2: good old fashion group text.
5:28
Speaker 1: I'm with you, Hey, let's bring in our next guest.
5:31
Speaker 1: We'll ask him about this for a couple of minutes
5:32
Speaker 1: before we get to the rest, and here he is
5:35
Speaker 1: Ramon Loriano of the Padres joining us right now. Ramon,
5:38
Speaker 1: great to have you here, and if you don't mind,
5:41
Speaker 1: we'll just bring you right into this conversation.
5:42
Speaker 3: We're just going over what it's.
5:44
Speaker 1: Like to communicate with teammates on your phone, group text,
5:47
Speaker 1: the whole deal. So how do you communicate with everyone
5:50
Speaker 1: throughout the day in terms of seeing what the lineup
5:53
Speaker 1: looks like and asking a teammate a question, seeing what
5:55
Speaker 1: the hotel or travel schedule looks like, and what's up?
5:58
Speaker 5: Thanks for joining us, man, how you do No? Thanks
6:01
Speaker 5: for having me guys. Yeah, I mean I talked.
6:06
Speaker 6: We talked a few times here and there with what
6:10
Speaker 6: are how good the cookies are? The ice creams and
6:13
Speaker 6: stuff in some hotels? But when it comes to what
6:18
Speaker 6: was it hitting? Hitting meetings and stuff, you guys were saying, Yeah,
6:25
Speaker 6: we don't really talk much. Actually, I think unless there's
6:31
Speaker 6: another group, but I don't really talk much about that
6:35
Speaker 6: stuff with anybody really, now that I think about it.
6:39
Speaker 6: I've been very fortunate to have really good hitting meetings
6:44
Speaker 6: the past few years, so I'm very grateful for that one.
6:47
Speaker 4: Are you Are you still in any of the group
6:50
Speaker 4: threads the group chats from any of your other teams
6:53
Speaker 4: that you've played for, and is there ones that you
6:55
Speaker 4: want to get kicked out of that you're like, uncle,
6:58
Speaker 4: like take me out. You guys are just spamming my phone,
7:01
Speaker 4: and there's there some that you just absolutely.
7:03
Speaker 5: Love, uh they?
7:07
Speaker 6: I mean, what what was it like Atlanta? I got
7:10
Speaker 6: kicked out because I obviously noting that team anymore. Baltimore
7:14
Speaker 6: it was pretty quick kicked out, But I mean you
7:17
Speaker 6: have to get kicked out because you're not there, so
7:20
Speaker 6: uh yeah, I mean I haven't had an issue with that, so.
7:26
Speaker 2: Yeah.
7:27
Speaker 3: A question speaking of Atlanta.
7:28
Speaker 2: Obviously, you had a really good start to your career
7:30
Speaker 2: and then you hit a point where you know, you offensively,
7:33
Speaker 2: you weren't the guy that you knew you could be.
7:36
Speaker 2: But then I looked at that when you got traded
7:38
Speaker 2: to Atlanta, when you got acquired by Atlanta. Since then,
7:41
Speaker 2: you've just been kind of dominant at the play. Is
7:43
Speaker 2: there something that you kind of picked up in Atlanta?
7:45
Speaker 2: Where was it just a change of scenery, get an
7:47
Speaker 2: opportunity to play every day?
7:49
Speaker 3: What kind of happened when you were there in Atlanta?
7:54
Speaker 5: Yeah? I think and just learning some some stuff.
8:00
Speaker 4: Uh.
8:01
Speaker 6: I mean you just got to a point where you know,
8:03
Speaker 6: I'm either about to play in Mexico or or or
8:08
Speaker 6: or and that's it really Uh. And I just have
8:12
Speaker 6: to figure it out a way to just simplify, go
8:16
Speaker 6: back to the basics I asked. I used to ask
8:19
Speaker 6: a lot, a lot of questions about the game overall,
8:22
Speaker 6: always curious about the game. Right, So I was just like,
8:25
Speaker 6: you know what, guys, just put everything together and just
8:29
Speaker 6: believe whatever I believe, and which is just uh backspin,
8:35
Speaker 6: lost fingers on top of the baseball, a little way
8:39
Speaker 6: shift kind of Charlie low book stuff. Uh, and just
8:44
Speaker 6: see I hate it, See I hate it. Whatever happens happens,
8:48
Speaker 6: trust my ability, trust my eyes, and and I overthink
8:53
Speaker 6: too much and chock up, chock couplet chock choked up.
8:57
Speaker 5: And that really simplifies things.
9:01
Speaker 3: Was that something that sorry, was that something felt?
9:05
Speaker 2: Was that something that you felt or was that a
9:07
Speaker 2: conversation that you were kind of hearing because I think
9:09
Speaker 2: you were in Cleveland and then you went to Atlanta.
9:11
Speaker 2: Did you kind of feel like you were potentially on
9:14
Speaker 2: your way out of a major league job and kind
9:17
Speaker 2: of Atlanta was kind of your last chance to kind
9:19
Speaker 2: of prove yourself. And if you didn't make those changes
9:22
Speaker 2: or you know, go out there and perform, you felt
9:25
Speaker 2: like your next step was to go maybe play in Mexico.
9:29
Speaker 6: Uh maybe not, but but I think I guess, you know,
9:34
Speaker 6: you just gotta be realistic, really, you know where your
9:37
Speaker 6: fit are at, which I am all the time, but
9:40
Speaker 6: I think, uh, just there's really nothing to lose really
9:46
Speaker 6: making that whatever adjustment I had to may at that time.
9:51
Speaker 5: And uh, it just came.
9:52
Speaker 6: Down to to that, just kind of believe whatever I believe,
9:57
Speaker 6: doing one thing, sticking to one thing because I got it,
10:01
Speaker 6: I mean right right now, like old school and like
10:04
Speaker 6: new school philosophy. Guy, everybody kind of messed up in
10:08
Speaker 6: the head. So I think I would I just set
10:12
Speaker 6: myself with whatever I believe.
10:14
Speaker 5: So so yeah.
10:17
Speaker 4: Ramone, Okay, this is the first time I've ever talked
10:19
Speaker 4: to you, but playing against you, you were fired, like
10:22
Speaker 4: you had this fire? Are you just are you? Is
10:25
Speaker 4: this off field Ramon? Or is this the new Ramone
10:28
Speaker 4: who's a little bit more relaxed and not charging the
10:31
Speaker 4: dugout with Alex Centron in the dugout like you used to.
10:34
Speaker 4: You used to run around the outfield like you were
10:37
Speaker 4: angry at the baseball and running it down throwing it
10:40
Speaker 4: and you had like now you look like you're just
10:43
Speaker 4: like so chill. So is this two different people on
10:47
Speaker 4: field and off field or is this new you?
10:50
Speaker 5: No, I mean I'm kind of chill overall.
10:52
Speaker 6: I feel like, but you know, when I'm playing baseball,
10:56
Speaker 6: it's just I'm a twelve year old, twelve year old
11:00
Speaker 6: head that just wants to go hard, play the game hard,
11:05
Speaker 6: like old school.
11:05
Speaker 5: How I watched, how I grew up playing.
11:07
Speaker 6: And the dream is to play hard. The dream is
11:11
Speaker 6: not to just play it and sticking to that, sticking
11:14
Speaker 6: to what I really how I really like to what
11:18
Speaker 6: makes me really love this game, which is playing hardball.
11:22
Speaker 2: So yeah, speaking of adjustments, you know, team wise, what's
11:26
Speaker 2: been the biggest difference maybe from your first ten games
11:29
Speaker 2: of the year to these second ten games, and then
11:31
Speaker 2: what sort of adjustments have you made from maybe hitting
11:34
Speaker 2: you know, you know, towards the bottom of the order
11:36
Speaker 2: to now leading.
11:37
Speaker 6: Off, nothing really keeping everything the same, keeping things simple.
11:45
Speaker 5: They're gonna throw the ball in the middle.
11:47
Speaker 6: Of the play, just thinking thinking like that, So like,
11:52
Speaker 6: I don't know, we think too much.
11:54
Speaker 5: Obviously, I got.
11:54
Speaker 6: People really good hitters behind me, but not thinking too much,
12:00
Speaker 6: obviously smelling.
12:01
Speaker 5: What they might do, you know, have a little idea.
12:04
Speaker 6: But kind of the only adjustment is just relaxed more
12:08
Speaker 6: of my fingers. Uh, That's what I've been doing really
12:12
Speaker 6: because I felt too tense early in the season. Just
12:15
Speaker 6: but just relaxing my fingers, and I think that that
12:20
Speaker 6: made my low, makes my low better.
12:23
Speaker 4: Makes your hands quicker too, assum when you have yes,
12:27
Speaker 4: but when you're when you're like grinding the bat, you're
12:31
Speaker 4: you're swinging slower. Correct, that's you know, trying to tell
12:33
Speaker 4: the fans out there, they're hearing what you're saying.
12:36
Speaker 6: Yeah, yeah, you feel your trap a little like activated,
12:40
Speaker 6: which that's not good. Ah, even though you might be early,
12:44
Speaker 6: loading early and everything, you're still swinging like kind of
12:49
Speaker 6: hard and it shouldn't feel like that. So I just
12:52
Speaker 6: relaxed my hands a couple of inches back, and I
12:56
Speaker 6: just relax his hands and just be early.
12:58
Speaker 5: See I hit it all right.
13:00
Speaker 4: The hefach Craig Stammin, your manager said he was dumb
13:04
Speaker 4: for hitting you in the bottom of the order. Now
13:07
Speaker 4: you're up in the top of the order. Did he
13:09
Speaker 4: have a conversation with you about that? Was he like,
13:12
Speaker 4: or did you just come in one day and you go,
13:15
Speaker 4: I'm hitting at the top of the order, this is good?
13:21
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean we haven't.
13:23
Speaker 6: I told him I don't care really about the line
13:25
Speaker 6: of stuff situation. So he can do whatever he thinks
13:29
Speaker 6: he needs to do to make the team better. And
13:33
Speaker 6: at the end of the day, I've been hitting from
13:35
Speaker 6: you know, we're talking about nine to one in the
13:41
Speaker 6: line of my whole life back and forth because you
13:44
Speaker 6: know Oakland, the moneyball platoon things started a long time ago,
13:52
Speaker 6: especially over there, no platoon thing. But you know, the
13:57
Speaker 6: lineup depending is righty, lefty, whatever. So I just really
14:04
Speaker 6: I used to think about it early in my career,
14:06
Speaker 6: but I didn't understood it, and now I understand it.
14:09
Speaker 5: But it is what it is.
14:11
Speaker 6: Really, I'm just very grateful that I'm able to play
14:13
Speaker 6: this game and a very good team.
14:16
Speaker 4: During that time earlier your career, you're going through it,
14:18
Speaker 4: and for people who don't know Oakland, they would they
14:21
Speaker 4: would change the lineup. They would say, oh, this guy's
14:23
Speaker 4: more valuable in this spot and that spot. Do you
14:26
Speaker 4: feel like you could have handled it differently when you
14:30
Speaker 4: were younger, or that the team could have handled it differently,
14:33
Speaker 4: because we always hear, well, why did this guy not
14:35
Speaker 4: work out at that place? Well, probably because of how
14:37
Speaker 4: they deployed him, and he was still a good player
14:40
Speaker 4: back at that point. Do you think they could have
14:42
Speaker 4: handled it or you could have handled it differently.
14:46
Speaker 6: I don't have anything that with when I was in
14:50
Speaker 6: Oakland or any other teams. It's just just kind of
14:54
Speaker 6: you know, you're young, you don't really know when it
14:56
Speaker 6: comes to like strategy, and you don't even need to
14:58
Speaker 6: really pay attention to this stuff.
15:00
Speaker 5: You just need to just focus on playing ball.
15:03
Speaker 6: But and you learn things on the fly in the
15:06
Speaker 6: big leagues too, So I feel like, yeah, I could
15:10
Speaker 6: have maybe.
15:14
Speaker 5: No, nothing too much, really just.
15:17
Speaker 6: Kinda control what I can, which is like my hitting
15:21
Speaker 6: and playing the game hard and that's it. I mean,
15:24
Speaker 6: I did that, but I think I just could have
15:27
Speaker 6: just keep it the same bus I am now.
15:29
Speaker 5: But I think I have to go through that stuff
15:31
Speaker 5: to make it to adjust it.
15:35
Speaker 2: Now. Hey, you get a chance to play with two
15:39
Speaker 2: pretty dynamic outfielders in centerfield and right field, but both
15:42
Speaker 2: of those guys haven't been playing outfield all that long.
15:45
Speaker 2: I assume you probably played outfield majority of your childhood too.
15:49
Speaker 3: Are there still.
15:50
Speaker 2: Questions they come to you when it comes to playing
15:53
Speaker 2: the outfield position because you've been elite defender in the
15:56
Speaker 2: outfield for a long time.
15:59
Speaker 6: Uh. Yeah, that's crazy that these guys haven't really you know,
16:02
Speaker 6: I mean there's two shortstops playing the outfield these guys,
16:06
Speaker 6: and uh, they don't even they don't really need to
16:10
Speaker 6: come to me. Uh, they haven't really come to me.
16:12
Speaker 6: And and they don't even need to. I mean, their
16:14
Speaker 6: instincts are off the shart, their their IQ. I mean,
16:21
Speaker 6: it's it's unbelievable seeing these guys day in and day out. Uh,
16:26
Speaker 6: it's just the ability there, their explosiveness, they their the
16:31
Speaker 6: range that they cover.
16:33
Speaker 5: It's, uh, it's pretty special to watch. All right.
16:37
Speaker 4: Another one of your teammates is doing something pretty special
16:39
Speaker 4: on the mound, Mason Miller. Do you like do you
16:43
Speaker 4: like heavy metal music?
16:44
Speaker 3: Do you like corn?
16:46
Speaker 4: Because what he comes out to some people are like,
16:49
Speaker 4: I hate that kind of music or do you kind
16:51
Speaker 4: of get a little do you get kind of chills
16:53
Speaker 4: when he comes out and talk about what you're watching
16:56
Speaker 4: him do on the mound. Besides falling asleep in the
16:58
Speaker 4: outfield when he's pitching.
17:01
Speaker 5: A Uh. Well, I'm American. We don't really listen to
17:06
Speaker 5: a lot of heavy.
17:07
Speaker 6: Metal over but I really like when when he comes
17:12
Speaker 6: out with the walk up, so it's pretty intimidated. Uh
17:15
Speaker 6: and uh and then you check his stats line since
17:18
Speaker 6: he got to the padres uh literally, since Guriel hit
17:22
Speaker 6: a homer against him, like a one o three. He
17:24
Speaker 6: threw like a one of three and hit a bomb
17:27
Speaker 6: and after that he's literally mean, I thought Eric Gagne
17:33
Speaker 6: stats whatever year he finished like top top five in
17:40
Speaker 6: MBP or something like that, or he wanted to be
17:42
Speaker 6: he wants you, I think.
17:44
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah he did. I thought I thought. I was
17:48
Speaker 5: like unbelievable. This is.
17:53
Speaker 6: This is just another level. Really, I mean it's uh,
17:56
Speaker 6: what was his seventy strikeouts in like thirty something Indians?
18:02
Speaker 6: I mean, I don't even know really how to describe
18:04
Speaker 6: it really, but yeah, And what was the other question
18:10
Speaker 6: you said about?
18:11
Speaker 4: Oh just you answered both. You answered both. You don't
18:15
Speaker 4: you don't like the heavy metal. I've never met any
18:17
Speaker 4: Dominicans that like heavy metal, so that had to make
18:20
Speaker 4: me laugh. When I saw he was coming out the
18:22
Speaker 4: corn and I had to ask you that.
18:24
Speaker 6: Yeah, yeah, yeah, but it's it's pretty intimidated when he
18:28
Speaker 6: comes and he's tall, timmy dated guy, white shoulders.
18:33
Speaker 5: You know, one or three.
18:39
Speaker 2: Has there been a conversation with you and the other
18:41
Speaker 2: outfielders of maybe just sitting on the bench when he
18:44
Speaker 2: comes in to close the game because you guys aren't
18:46
Speaker 2: needed out there. And speaking of good arms, Mason Miller,
18:49
Speaker 2: do you believe you can still throw from that left
18:51
Speaker 2: field corner and hit first base on the line.
18:58
Speaker 6: I don't know the planning, the adrenaline, Uh I have,
19:02
Speaker 6: but I don't know. I don't feel like I can
19:04
Speaker 6: make that. I have to try to make that throw,
19:06
Speaker 6: and it's just it's hard. It was just a perfect
19:09
Speaker 6: day in Anaheim, Ah, perfect great, perfect weather. But it's
19:15
Speaker 6: hard to make that throw just because of the anxiety
19:17
Speaker 6: of it.
19:18
Speaker 5: Right.
19:19
Speaker 6: But uh, but when I'm in the outflan Mason spitching,
19:25
Speaker 6: I think it's been the only time in my career
19:27
Speaker 6: that I have I'm not gonna lie. I have done
19:29
Speaker 6: it a couple of times when I'm just like watching,
19:32
Speaker 6: I don't even care about making a play because I
19:34
Speaker 6: am not going to make a play and uh, literally
19:38
Speaker 6: that's the first time I ever really I have thought
19:43
Speaker 6: of taking my glove off, but like that would be
19:45
Speaker 6: so disrespectful for the whole base wall war. But like
19:49
Speaker 6: that's the only time I have thought of that. So,
19:52
Speaker 6: I mean, it's really unbelievable.
19:54
Speaker 2: Really, Hey, did you did you face them at all
19:56
Speaker 2: in spring training? And have you faced him at all
19:59
Speaker 2: in your career?
20:00
Speaker 3: Yeah?
20:02
Speaker 5: Like one time last year.
20:04
Speaker 6: Yeah, I mean I don't even care about saying this,
20:09
Speaker 6: but I I told him.
20:12
Speaker 5: I told him that I was taken the whole time,
20:15
Speaker 5: and I.
20:15
Speaker 6: Walked and uh and uh yeah, and in springs training,
20:23
Speaker 6: I never I I could have faced him a couple
20:27
Speaker 6: of times, but for a while, you know, like why
20:29
Speaker 6: why will you face him in springs training? There's no
20:32
Speaker 6: really reasons for that. It's there's nothing. You're not really
20:36
Speaker 6: gonna get better at that, so uh yeah, literally, it's
20:41
Speaker 6: just it's a whole other planet.
20:43
Speaker 5: Really, this guy. Uh, it's unbelievable.
20:47
Speaker 4: Can you please, can you please just one pitch? Not
20:50
Speaker 4: have your glove on for one, just one pitch for
20:53
Speaker 4: will You'll know, I'll know in my heart that was
20:57
Speaker 4: for foul territory. Just one, just one, just one, I'll
21:05
Speaker 4: do one.
21:05
Speaker 5: I'll do one, Okay, Okay, I think I can do it.
21:10
Speaker 3: All right.
21:10
Speaker 4: Well, we talked about we talk about we talk about domination.
21:15
Speaker 4: I had no idea I knew you were a Dominican.
21:18
Speaker 4: I had no idea you went to Northeastern Oklahoma. A
21:21
Speaker 4: and M, how on earth do you get to that college?
21:28
Speaker 4: Which you are one of four Big leaguers to ever
21:33
Speaker 4: play at that college, clearly the best player ever. But
21:37
Speaker 4: how do you get there from where you where you
21:40
Speaker 4: grew up?
21:42
Speaker 6: Uh? Yeah, I grew up with the Dominican And I
21:44
Speaker 6: got a scholarship when I was fifteen to go to
21:47
Speaker 6: high school in Long Island.
21:48
Speaker 5: Uh, let's go Oprahroom Christian School and uh and yeah.
21:53
Speaker 6: And then I got a scholarship to go to the
21:56
Speaker 6: junial college Northeastern Oklahoma as a pitcher and and yeah,
22:01
Speaker 6: and they really like hitters.
22:04
Speaker 5: And I was hitting BP firs day.
22:06
Speaker 6: And you say you said you'd like to hit it,
22:10
Speaker 6: and I'm like, yeah, I love hitting more than pitching.
22:12
Speaker 5: And that's it. That was it.
22:15
Speaker 1: Wow wild during Yeah, it's really cool. And then I
22:19
Speaker 1: remember last year when you ended up with San Diego
22:21
Speaker 1: traded there. You told AJ prelor like you're crazy, dude,
22:24
Speaker 1: You're you're acquiring everyone. Well, it's working, it's it's been
22:27
Speaker 1: fun obviously. You guys got a great team, big winning
22:29
Speaker 1: streak going on. Thanks for joining us. Ron really enjoyed
22:32
Speaker 1: the conversation. I hope you did too.
22:34
Speaker 5: No, thank you, guys. Jody good, pretty good. Thank you.
22:38
Speaker 3: Yeah, good luck, take care.
22:39
Speaker 1: Appreciate you.